The Apple Tree
by hogwartswonderland
Summary: At the age of 8, Elaine met Tristan for the first time at the top of an apple tree. From then on, all important milestones in their relationship happened at that tree. "Everything important that has happened in our relationship has been at this tree." "So why don't we name her Avalon?"


The Apple Tree

A King Arthur Fanfic

By: Hogwartswonderland

Every man, woman, and child at Hadrian's Wall knew better than to test the skills of Tristan; Arthur's legendary silent and unapproachable scout. They have all heard the terrible tales of how the scout has mercilessly slaughtered any enemy that dared to cross his path on the battle field and they did not have a death wish. The only people brave enough to challenge with him were Arthur, the other Sarmatians, and Elaine; the daughter of a former Sarmatian knight turned local apple farmer that lived just outside the Wall.

Now, Elaine was a far cry from other girls her age who only aspired to marry and become obedient home-makers. She was a wild, stubborn, and adventurous girl that preferred exploring outside compared to staying indoors. Elaine's mother died when she was only 8 summers old, leaving her to be raised alongside her two older brothers by her father who did very little to curb his daughters wild nature. It was actually a few days after her mother's death that Elaine met Tristan for the first time.

_It was a rare nice sunny day on the Isle of Britain. Normally it was hot, extremely humid, and raining non-stop. But for some reason, today of all days was the exception. It was the perfect temperature out, not a single cloud was to be seen in the sky, and the rain had ceased long enough for the sun to reveal itself. Elaine's mother used to love these kinds of days, which made it all that more painful to bury her today. The eight year old was able to imagine how her mother would have forced the boys to take a break from work to enjoy a family picnic outside. Elaine would have chased her 16 year old brother, Garrett and 12 year old brother, Terry through the orchard while their parents watched in amusement from afar. Thinking about how that would never happen again made Elaine sigh forlornly from her hiding place amidst the branches of an apple tree located in her family's orchard. _

_ "Elaine, where are you?" Garrett called out as he wondered through the trees down below. _

_ Upon hearing her older brother's voice, Elaine huddled closely to the trunk of the tree in hopes of concealing herself among the thick branches of the tree. She had ran here not too long after delivering her mother into the earth in order to cry and mourn in peace. Elaine didn't want her brothers or anybody else to see her cry. Eventually Garrett gave up on looking for her there and moved on to someplace else. Once he was gone, Elaine released a sigh of relief. _

_ "There are people worried about you," an unknown voice said from behind her. _

_ Elaine jumped up in surprise, nearly falling out of the tree, not knowing how someone was able to sneak up on her at the top of an apple tree. She turned around to view the mysterious stranger. She was surprised to see a boy of about 13 or 14 with strange markings on his face sat behind her, staring at her with calculating brown eyes. _

_ "Who are you?" Elaine asked the strange boy. _

_ He took a bite of his apple which he had grabbed from the branch above him before answering. "Tristan."_

_ Upon hearing his name, Elaine was able to figure out who he is. Tristan was a Sarmatian boy that was being trained to become a knight. Elaine's father, Afallech, a former knight, was in charge of training the group of boys. He had mentioned before that Tristan showed promise of becoming a scout, which was his duty when he was Rome's service. _

"_I know you!" Elaine whispered excitedly forgetting her grief. "My father has mentioned you before." _

_Tristan gave the younger girl a small smile, happy that he was able to lift her mood just a little. Afallech had asked him the day before to find Elaine once the funeral ended after already guessing that she would pull a disappearing act. Tristan was glad that he didn't fail his mentor._

"_Afallech has also talked of you. He was worried that you would do this."_

_Elaine looked at him in surprise, unaware that her father had mentioned her to anyone- let alone his start pupil. Many people were surprised that Elaine was Afallech's daughter because he rarely mentioned her existence. It wasn't because he disappointed of her, it was just because he was overprotective of his only daughter and preferred to keep her sheltered from what he thought was a cruel world. _

"_He told you about me?" Elaine looked at him, her big grey eyes sparkling with excitement. _

_Tristan nodded. "He is very proud of you. So why don't we climb down and I will take you to him."_

_Elaine gave him a toothy smile that shows of her dimples before laughing as she climbed down the tree. "I bet that I can climb down faster than you!"_

_The twelve year old chuckled at the young girl and began climbing down, quickly surpassing her to the bottom. It was lucky for her that he reached the bottom first because she misplaced her foot, causing her to tumble through the branches. Tristan caught her before she could reach the ground and then gently placed her back on her feet and scanned over her to look for any possible injury. Afallech would most likely kill him- star pupil or not- if his precious daughter was hurt while in Tristan's care. _

"_Thank you for catching me, Tristan." _

_He grunted in response, now frustrated with the girl in front of him. He had heard countless stories about how reckless she was, but he didn't expect her to be reckless and clumsy! He would find out in the years to come that Elaine was very accident prone, which would make his job to watch over her much more difficult. _

"_Don't thank me. Just be more careful next time. Now, let's go find your father."_

_Together the pair walked out of the orchard hand in hand, Elaine occasionally looking up at the mysterious boy with a smile, thinking of how he was her new best friend. _

After that day, Afallech had a difficult time keeping his daughter at the farm. On the days that he went to the Wall to train the knights, Elaine would discreetly follow him just so that she could spend time with Tristan. By the time Elaine was 12, Afallech left his sons in charge of the farm and brought Elaine with him to the Wall. They had struck a deal that for the first few hours of the day, Elaine would help out Olwen; an elderly woman that taught Elaine things such as sewing, baking, and how to use a loom- which is the only thing Elaine sits still long enough to do well.

It was beneficial for Elaine to spend time with Olwen learning such things, since she no longer had her mother to teach her. At one point, Olwen told Afallech that Elaine was very gifted with the loom and that he should consider buying one for her and allowing her to sell her creations. But that was the only good thing that the grumpy old woman had to say about Elaine. For the most part, she believed Elaine to be too wild and too outspoken for a girl of her age. Olwen complained on a daily basis that Elaine was never going to make a good wife.

Despite how much Elaine detested her time with Olwen, she never complained (much) just because she knew that she would get to spend time with Tristan- who was 17 and had turned into a rather reclusive young man, only opting to spend his time with his fellow knights and Elaine. Together they would go to the archery range where Tristan would give Elaine lessons on shooting, or they would take a ride on Tristan's horse around the perimeter of the wall. On rare occasions- usually when Afallech would spend time at the Tavern with his fellow former knights- the two would ride back the orchard where they first met and camp out under what they claimed to be 'their tree'.

It was on one of these nights that they found Isolde, and injured hawk that was trapped in the branches of the apple tree. Together the two nursed the young hawk back to health, often switching turns caring for her at night. Eventually Isolde recovered and Elaine and Tristan released her back into the wild on the eve of Elaine's 13th birthday. Unexpectedly- or expectedly if someone asked Elaine's family and Tristan's fellow knights- the bird chose to fly right back, landing on Elaine's shoulder and steeling a bite of Tristan's apple. From then on, the duo became a trio.

In the years to follow, the trio would hunt (once Elaine was allowed) and ride (Jol- who loved Elaine as a sister- would allow her to borrow a horse), often exploring the land around the fort. It not only quelled Elaine's adventurous spirit that only grew as she did, it allowed Tristan- who had realized he loved her when she turned 15- to have time with her alone.

It was after Elaine turned 16 that Afallech took Olwen's advice of marrying Elaine off that he put his foot down and stopped the two from spending time with one another. But being the stubborn girl she was, Elaine continued to sneak around and visit Tristan under their apple tree. Anytime her father set her up with a potential suitor, Elaine would elicit the help but the knights (who she had become friends with over the years) and Isolde to drive the men away. The knights and their commander Arthur were always willing to help because they had guessed the scouts feelings for the girl (despite the emotionless mask he put on in front of them) and wished to see the two together. Even Elaine's brothers Garrett and Terry were on board with it because they knew the silent scout was the only one able to put up with Elaine's wild and stubborn nature.

After a year of sneaking around, Afallech finally gave in and stopping pairing Elaine with suitors. He should have known that by telling Tristan to watch over his daughter 9 years ago, that it would lead to them falling for each other. So naturally he was not surprised to see Tristan standing at his door in the early morning after he lifted the ban, asking him to officially court his daughter. Afallech suspected that at some point in the year that he forced them apart that the two began secretly courting. But he was never able to confirm it seeing as the scout never gave anything away and his daughter was too darn stubborn to tell him the truth.

From the outside, not much changed between the two after they began courting. Sure, Elaine was at the fort more often but people never saw the couple kiss or even hold hands. All they saw was Elaine continuing to tease and joke around with Tristan, who remained passive and unresponsive in her attempts to rile him up. Of course they never knew that he would crack when they were away from the public eye and would often end up chasing her down to their tree and kissing her until she took back whatever she said or stopped whatever they were doing.

Once the people of Hadrian's Wall grew bored of watching the two, they once again began watching Lancelot get into trouble with his womanizing ways. People only began to pay attention again when Tristan actually began to ask random people at the market if they had seen Elaine. One would think that the legendary scout- who was rumored to be able to track a woad even in the rain- was unable to find his own woman! He would ask around for a couple of hours before giving up and going to his usual table at the tavern to wait for Elaine to reveal herself. She always appeared by the end of the day, but it still mystified everyone how the scout was never able to find her. But after a couple of months of this happening, the odd pair began to fade from people's minds.

But for Arthur and the remaining Sarmatian Knights, Elaine's disappearances were still a mystery that they wanted to solve. They had noticed a few months ago that they never saw Elaine, not even at the tavern- where Elaine began working once she and Tristan started their courtship. Bors asked Vanora why Elaine no longer worked, but she was no help. All Bors accomplished was setting off Vanora's fiery temper. At the same time, Gawain and Galahad visited Elaine's family at their apple farm. Both Terry and Garrett said they had no clue what was going on with their sister, seeing as they have been busy with their own expanding families. Afallech- who was quite old now and bedridden- only smiled at the sound of his daughters name and then scolded them for snooping in other people's business. The remaining knights and even Arthur searched the entire fort for the elusive couple, only to never find them.

All the while Tristan was galloping through the orchard, just getting off of from a shift of scouting. Isolde had reluctantly gone with him, so she flew ahead to meet Elaine at the very same tree where they met 12 years ago to the day. As he approached the tree, Tristan noticed that the red-headed woman was nowhere to be found. Sighing, he secured his horses reins to a lower branch and began to hastily climb up. He didn't have to climb as far, seeing that Elaine was only hallway up the tree and munching on and apple as she sewed a blanket she has been working on.

"What are you doing up here?"

"What does it look like?" Elaine answered cheekily. "I am eating an apple and sewing a blanket."

Tristan sighs at her smart response. "You shouldn't be climbing trees in your condition."

Elaine snorts. "I am pregnant, not an invalid." She folds the blanket up and holds it out to Isolde, who clutches it with her talons and flies down and drops it on top of an apple filled basket. "But if it will make you feel better, then I will climb down and remain grounded like a normal woman about to go into labor."

Tristan eyes zero onto her expanded belly which looks like it is about to pop at any moment. "You are in labor?"

This time Elaine rolls her eyes. "Yes. I don't know why Vanora said childbirth is excruciating. I have felt worse pain that this before." She begins to climb down with the help of Tristan. Soon the pair is safely on the ground and Elaine lays comfortably against the trunk of the tree. Tristan sits next to her and holds her hand as she begins to deeply inhale and exhale, trying to calm her breathing before pushing.

"I don't understand why you insisted upon giving birth under this tree. And without the help of a mid-wife or even Vanora."

"For one, everything important that has happened in our relationship has been at this tree," she pauses to push before talking again. "Secondly, my mother gave birth to my brothers and me with no help beside my father," she stops to push again, "so I see no need to why I need someone else here." She lets out a low scream this time as she pushes.

Two hours later, the couple is huddled together underneath a set of blankets, both staring down at the pink face of their newborn daughter who is swaddled comfortably in the same red blanket Elaine was working on only hours before. Elaine bends down and kiss her daughters forehead before resting her head on Tristan's broad shoulder.

"What should we name her?" Elaine murmurs sleepily, the toll of giving birth finally catching up to her.

Tristan continues to stare at his child thoughtfully.

"You claim that everything important happened at this apple tree, so why don't we name her Avalon?"

The baby girl, who was silent before then, gurgles happily at the sound of Avalon. Elaine opens her eyes for a brief moment to stare down at their child. She moves her hand that isn't holding the baby and allows Avalon to curl her tiny fist around one of her mother's fingers.

"Avalon is perfect."

A/N: Hello, readers! I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to read this! It is originally based off my old King Arthur fanfic, Hide-and-go-Seek- which I looked back on and thought was poorly written and I wanted to completely re-do it. So this fanfic was born! I never intended for the ending to happen the way it did, but I really wanted to emphasize just how important the apple tree is to Tristan and Elaine. It is part of the reason why I made childbirth seem easier for Elaine than most women. I imagine her to have a higher pain threshold than most so it wouldn't seem so weird for her to plan to have her and Tristan's child under that exact apple tree where they met. Also, this take place about two years before the movie. Anyway, feel free to comment!

-Megan-Ashley


End file.
